


Let's Keep Holding On, For the Both of Us

by countingyourfingers



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: AU where they decide to stick by one another until the end, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 18:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9671459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/countingyourfingers/pseuds/countingyourfingers
Summary: There’s one thing Wanderer really fears. A fear greater than any empty hope given by a callous God.





	

An hour pass, and Erblu’s eyes are still closed, splotches of red bloom on his once pale, unblemished skin like poisonous flowers eating him up from the inside. The color makes the wounds look more devastating in all of their sickening corporeality. Wanderer wants to scream and cry, but his body is too tired for lungs to expel breaths properly, for dry tongue to form words. He chokes, tears staining the black blood on his face. There’s no need to maintain the mask of detached calmness when there is no longer a divine image to preserve.

“Erblu! You have to wake up! Heal yourself! Please!” They’re lying side-by-side, all tattered and broken. Wanderer can’t move his legs, which are bending at odd angles and they _hurt_ , the pain tearing him apart whenever he tried to adjust them. Such small injuries shouldn’t have felt this awful to bear, had Ishmael’s grace blessed him like it used to. No matter how his physical body was damaged, he could have still moved and fight on, trust in victory driving him forward until he triumph, as long as She blessed him her warmth and made him _forget_ of all pains, of all the things that can chain him down. Just need to keep pushing on, until his divine role that is above mortally concerns expires.

_My Goddess, you are so, so cruel._

Erblu’s eyes remain shut, the red staining his skin further. Wanderer wants to do nothing more than to touch and embrace him, using his body to cover up the red that is making him feel nauseous. To protect that fragile frame from everything that can damage it, until some brave soul dared to transverse through a site of demon battlefield and save them both.

The eyes behind him hissed in delight, its presence dripped of anticipation for further corruption of a new, weakened host. Wanderer froze in place, his thin fingers shy of grazing Erblu’s blood-caked hair. He grits his teeth and returns to his calling. 

 _You’re always capable of goodness._  

It’s what Erblu has stubbornly told him, engraving those words on his skin between hushed breaths in cold nights that Wanderer cried from nightmares, from disfiguring marks encircling his limbs that crushed his soul with their dark what-ifs. He has almost nothing to trust anymore, besides this man who believed in him without pity, without judgment.

 “Erblu! Please! DON’T LEAVE ME!” His lungs hurt as much as his heart now, but still. _But still._ He has to try for the sake of them both, who’re abandoned by the whims of the God and can rely on no one else but themselves. Life has taught him a thing or two about gambling, about entrusting yourself to chances no matter how flimsy they are, can potentially bear fruits. Being human has long stopped appearing foolish and becomes the only way he can maintain his sanity.

“….I w…I won’t…” 

 He lets out a gasp when sleepy lime eyes met his, the former celestial glow in them has soon faded and gave way to exhaustion. But still, they’re shining with warmth. With strength.

 Wanderer can see heaven in those eyes.

 He still doesn’t dare to touch Erblu yet, not when he is still in this state, so all he can do to maintain contact is staring.

“….Okay.” Wanderer’s sight is blurred from more water, but he ceases wiping them away, for fear of distracting himself from looking at Erblu’s smile. Always so calm and soothing in all of its acceptance and bright hope, that Wanderer cannot imagine they’re cut from the same cloth.

“Mhmm…I can always take care of this.” A warm yellow light envelops them both in a heated hug, its glow erasing the rips on Erblu’s skin that terrified Wanderer earlier. Wanderer can feel his broken knees mended by Erblu’s magic, and soon enough, he can twitch his legs without searing pain threatening to cut them apart.

 “Ta-da!” A cheerful chirp blooms out of Erblu’s throat, a fluttering of syllables that lift Wanderer’s heart and envelop it in relief, as if its speaker has not been hung between life and death just moments before. It drowns out the hissing of the Eye behind him, clogging the darkness with light. He has nothing to respond to that tone but a shaky hug.

“I was so, so scared. I didn’t know what to do when you didn’t wake up.” He doesn’t like to inhale the scent of red blood on Erblu’s skin- it makes him sick with how _mortal_ it makes the other seems, stifling him with the knowledge that Erblu is so much more vulnerable now compared to when they’re still graced by God. “You shouldn’t have followed me. You shouldn’t have to fight so hard to protect me. I’m okay with whatever happens to my body, but you—you….you almost got killed because of me. I-”

 He doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence, when Erblu pulls out of his arms and quiets him with a kiss. It tastes of blood, of El magic, of breathing, and of the feeling of being alive.

 “That’s where you’re wrong.” Erblu pulls away, and a smile is still present on his face, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Wanderer has learned from travelling with Erblu how to distinguish small subtleties that can somehow assuage him with tiny comforts or tear him apart with regret. They all however have one effect in common: capturing Wanderer’s attention and pinning him to the ground.

“Now, regarding why we almost got killed-“ The word left Erblu’s mouth sounds as light as air, but Wanderer can hear a shaky breath lacing in the vowels. He squeezes Erblu’s hand instinctively, and he can feel fingers lacing his palms “- we both know that we were acting quite stupidly for not bringing enough potions in case of emergencies, and I was being careless for not paying more attention to the flow of battle to properly defend myself. Therefore, it’s not only your fault that I almost died.” It’s strange, the way Erblu always manage to see and state things in verisimilitude; some divine traces don’t go away no matter how much he tries to uphold a subjective humanity, yet his words always warm Wanderer’s heart with their sincere forgiveness, with heartfelt intent for comfort, for understanding.

“And as for me tagging along with you: you couldn’t stop it. It’s _my_ voluntary decision. I _chose_ to follow you. These battles are just small prices I have to pay. It’s called taking responsibility for one’s actions.” Erblu’s smile glows brighter than the magic surrounding them now, his eyes crinkle and reveal a small spark, which Wanderer can now recognize is the pride of understanding another human emotion. “I don’t regret my choice. Not at all.” Looking at Erblu’s eyes hurt so much, _I don’t deserve this kindness, not from you,_ but Wanderer can’t gaze away. He shifts closer, until more of their skin touch.

 “You’re too hard on yourself.” Wanderer can feel slender fingers squeezing his palm more tightly and a feather-light feeling of hair on his left shoulder. His dried eyes begin to water again, and he lets the tears flow freely, knowing there will always be a hand wiping them away.

Tomorrow, there will be another battle that they have to fight, enweaved in a life which asks of them more than just blind faith and devotion in their hearts as saving grace, until they attain that distant happiness gained from faraway freedom encrusted in a crumbling world. _But for now…_

Wanderer closes his eyes, and fills his lungs with Erblu’s scent, _this is enough._

**Author's Note:**

> And then Apostasia happens and everything turns to hell i mean wut  
> the tumblr cross-post is [ here ](http://igiveyouanumbrella.tumblr.com/post/157125253426/lets-keep-holding-on-for-the-both-of-us-word)


End file.
